At IEM Katowice I was pretty outspoken about the need for Protoss players to transition out of Adept/Phoenix play in PvT as the game became longer. herO’s play in the group stage was a great example of the limitations of the Adept/Phoenix composition. In many of his games he would have what amounted to a decent lead and eventually get grinded down by remaining on the early/mid game composition for too long.

Some Protosses, most notably Stats, were attempting to transition out of Adept/Phoenix, but that transition was not yet fully vetted. In both games during which he opened with Adept/Phoenix strategies against TY in the finals of Katowice, Stats attempted to transition out. In both of these games (game 2 on Proxima Station and game 3 on Abyssal Reef), Stats followed up the opening with Blink and Psi Storm, and in both of these games TY defeated him. Stats hung up the strategy for the rest of the tournament, as TY was clearly more prepared for these situations than he was.

2 Weeks Later…

IEM Katowice ended on March 5th. Let’s fast forward almost 2 weeks later to March 18th. On this day, herO and Stats both showed identical transitions from the strong Adept/Phoenix early/mid game into a full blown, teched out late game.

herO vs Bunny @ Abyssal Reef - SHOUTcraft Kings March - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aADlJZtuA5o&feature=youtu.be&t=612

Stats vs Ryung @ Abyssal Reef - GSL Code S ro4 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDaXcaURBZA&feature=youtu.be&t=730

Stats vs Ryung @ Cactus Valley - GSL Code S ro4 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDaXcaURBZA&feature=youtu.be&t=3322

Here is a brief outline of their important changes to the transition of Adept/Phoenix into the late game:(please note that for these rules to hold, Terran should have taken a 3rd base and not taken or inflicted critical damage, i.e, a “normal” game)

- The transition happens in the area of 70-80 Army Supply for Protoss (40ish on ground units - mostly Adepts, 20ish on Mothership Core / Oracle / 7-8 Phoenix / Prism). Around this time the game is shifting. Either you have done enough damage that Terran is scrambling, or Terran is turtling well enough on 3 bases that you will get diminished returns upon any further attacks.

- The transition itself is into a 2nd Robotics, Colossus Tech, and THEN a 4th base. The second Forge and Blink can come around this time as well.

3 Weeks Later…

Now, strategies do not stop evolving in a game like StarCraft 2. As shown above, Adept / Phoenix went from no transitions / bad transitions into a highly regular and strong follow-up strategy in under 2 weeks time. Protoss vs Terran and Terran vs Protoss are, of course, still evolving. Certain base concepts of RTS will always apply, and as people use them in different ways or with different emphasis-es the metagame will continue to evolve.

Let’s fast forward again, from March 18th, where a completely solid transition was showcased for Phoenix Adept, to almost 3 weeks later during GSL Super Tournament. As you probably already know, herO won this tournament, mostly on the back of his outrageously strong PvT. The two matches that I want to talk about are the ones which he had in the ro8 and Finals, against GuMiho and aLive, respectively. 

herO’s Adept / Phoenix vs GuMiho - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhTGuHQGdto

Overall Score: 1-1

GuMiho’s loss on Newkirk Precinct:

In this game, and overall in the series, GuMiho plays against herO’s strong Pylon rush opener. Instead of the popular Gas before Barracks which is used to get your Factory and Reactor out right after your Reaper, GuMiho instead goes for a Barracks first. With this he skips the Reactor for a little bit and instead makes 3 Marines immediately, which do a fantastic job of shutting down the aggression.

GuMiho uses a “GuMiho moveout”, as I call it in my head. He, like many other Terrans, will move out with a couple of Medivacs, some Marines, and 2-3 Widow Mines. Unlike many other Terrans, he won’t engage with it. A key to understanding Adept/Phoenix is to understand that they WANT this fight. Adept/Phoenix is strong in small skirmishes, and especially strong against Marines. The lower the supplies, the stronger Adept/Phoenix becomes. GuMiho will not give you this fight. He will pretend that he is going to, often times baiting out an Overcharge. Then he will retreat over his Widow Mines, hoping that you will chase and lose a couple Phoenixes. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. The most important thing is that he makes it back home, not having donated his units towards a Protoss victory. Screen Shot below.

Behind this, GuMiho is just massing up on 2 bases. The push distance on Newkirk Precinct between GuMiho’s natural and herO’s 3rd is very short, which makes this a strong choice of strategy for the map. He is making sure to make Liberators, Marauders and Widow Mines. His push will begin around 110 Army Supply. The 110-130 Terran Army Supply range, generally speaking, is where Adept/Phoenix will start to deteriorate in value. Remember, Adepts are like Roaches. They can be scary, but the higher your supply, the less you have to worry about them. Here is a screen shot of the armies as GuMiho starts his push.

Now, I need to mention about herO’s lack of transition here. GuMiho has forced this. As I mentioned above when talking about the transition into Colossus tech, it is used when Terran has 3 bases and has basically shut down harassment. In this game, GuMiho has remained on 2 bases, has lost very little so far, and feigned pressure multiple times. herO has been forced to remain on Adept/Phoenix. GuMiho would have some serious kill potential if he tried to skimp on units at any time in this game so far.

GuMiho sets up a pretty awesome looking push:

herO begins to push it back:

herO continues to chase but GuMiho rallies in and turns any time he feels advantaged (getting most units out of range of Adepts, over mines, etc.)

This approach from GuMiho is really quite brilliant. While he does eventually lose the game, he comes very close to defeating herO, and perhaps with a few different moves a bit later, does.

And just to cut off anyone who wants to say “oh, yeah, see! GuMiho played so awesomely and in a way you say is strategically sound, and Adept/Phoenix still beat him!” , I have this to say:GuMiho is a great player, but being upset that herO beat him with Adept/Phoenix is like being upset that Maru beat Trap with Marine/Marauder.

GuMiho’s win on Echo:

GuMiho again, as he did on Newkirk Precinct, opens with Barracks - Gas, making sure to minimize damage from any Pylon rushes.

GuMiho again uses the “GuMiho moveout”.

herO tagged the army in their encounter on Newkirk Precinct when the Mines were with it. This time GuMiho kept them behind and pre-burrowed:

He then waited around a bit longer and successfully baited herO into them. Remember, Protoss WANTS to fight right now. GuMiho uses this want against him.

Now even though these first two moves I bring up are similar to the other Adept / Phoenix game, the overall strategies of both players have changed. GuMiho decided to take a much faster 3rd CC, and herO had also taken a faster 3rd Nexus – right after his Oracle, before adding additional Gateways. herO also grabbed an early Prism this game, and decided to try to kill GuMiho outright. GuMiho sat back defending, sending only a single Medivac onto the map to drop Mines while he was being harassed by the Phoenixes at his main base.

Now herO, taking a 4th base, is trying to kill a turtling GuMiho, who is taking a 3rd base.

What is wrong with this picture for Protoss? He has shaded in to a nice GuMiho arc. Many of his Adepts are not firing. Also, GuMiho has not actually lost basically any units this game. There is no real reason why a defensive GuMiho should die to herO’s attack. What is herO trying to achieve? Even if he pushes the army to retreat, what is gained? There are no SCVs at the 3rd base yet, the best he can do is trade some units for units. Now, to be fair, he’s lost some Probes to the Mine drop, and his initial Prism didn’t work out. He could feel like he needs to take some risks to even up the game, which is reasonable. Still,  GuMiho defends this push very well, targeting down as many Phoenixes as possible.

After defending the a bit longer, GuMiho, not having sent countless drops out to their own doom, not having wasted units in skirmishes that the Adept/Phoenix player wants to take, moves out once again around 110 supply.

This push rolls through herO. There are lots of different reasons that herO may have chosen to play extra aggressively on this map, and just because he lost doesn’t necessarily mean that he was wrong in doing so. StarCraft is complicated like that. This game, though, is a perfect example of the need for Phoenix/Adept players to transition vs a well defended 3 base Terran who knows what he’s doing.

herO’s Adept / Phoenix vs aLive - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds6ymGrIMMQ

Overall Score: 3-1

herO went 1-1 vs GuMiho with Adept/Phoenix play, and could have easily gone 0-2. So why, against a better Terran player in aLive, did he go 3-1? Let’s take a look at the causes of aLive’s losses.

aLive’s loss on Echo:

aLive uses a different opening on Echo from anything we normally see in TvP right now. He opens with a Barracks first and skips making a Reaper, or any units. Instead he gets a fast Reactor while expanding, followed by a second Barracks and a Factory. This will allow aLive to have a much higher Marine count early on than most common builds in the matchup.

Next, at 3:25, aLive scouts a ridiculously fast Nexus. This Nexus is so fast that it’s before the Oracle. This fast scout my account for what happens next, but there’s no way to tell for sure.

aLive scans and sees a Stargate building an Oracle. It’s actually the second Oracle. The first Oracle is almost to his base. He moves out at this point with a sizable Marine force, a Mine and a Medivac.

Of course with no units at home the Oracle flies in and does critical damage.

My guess is that aLive thought with how fast the Nexus was that herO maybe went 3rd base into a Stargate, which would maybe make him think that his scan reveal the first Oracle. Otherwise why would he leave his base completely unguarded vs an incoming Oracle? He just wouldn’t.

aLive’s push doesn’t end up doing any damage. He splits up all of his units and then herO deals with them in two groups instead of fighting against them all at once. If aLive had kept them together its certain he would have at minimum killed the 3rd base. Regardless, he lost 10 SCVs to the first Oracle before 5 minutes into the game and did nothing of note with his initial push. This game isn’t as much a loss to Adept / Phoenix as it is a loss to an undefended Oracle. If a Protoss loses 10 Probes to the first Mine Drop, normally it isn’t the follow-up kill that gets complained about. It’s the Mine Drop.

aLive’s loss on Daybreak:

This game opens pretty well for aLive. herO expands quickly and immediately tries harassing with 2 Adepts, and an Oracle. He even brings a Phoenix across to tank Mine hits so the Oracle can get more damage. aLive deflects everything just about as perfectly as you can, taking minimal damage.

The next real action occurs as aLive is moving out. He goes across the map with a similar army to what GuMiho uses in the “GuMiho moveout”. 3 Mines, 20 Marines, and 2 Medivacs. He’s headed towards the 3rd base. On his way there, herO is harassing with his Phoenixes in aLive’s natural. aLive sees this as an opportunity to get into an aggressive position.

herO doesn’t see this incoming attack until the last second, but immediately brings all of his units and warps in on location. Note the army supplies right now: 52 vs 53.

Here is the engagement about to happen. Do 3 Mines, 20 Marines and 2 Medivacs beat 15 Adepts and 6 Phoenixes/1 Oracle? Even just comparing the supplies, or the army cost of these two armies… in no world does aLive’s army ever win here.

At the pro level, Protoss wins this every single time. This particular time, aLive micros really well and herO is a bit off, even missing a pickup on a Mine. aLive actually ends up sniping off a few Phoenixes that make this fight not as bad as it could have been and often is.

Phoenix / Adept, as I’ve been saying throughout this article, is very strong in the early and mid game. We are all used to Terran being stronger in small skirmishes at small supplies than Protoss or Zerg, but Phoenix/Adept turns the tables on that. Attacks like this are, in my view, the primary reason that Terrans have a hard time against Adept/Phoenix.

This next drop happens right as aLive’s previous attack was being cleaned up. 7 Marines, 2 Mines and 2 Medivacs are sent into herO’s natural. I really like the fundamentals that aLive is showing here.

First, herO’s Phoenixes are in aLive’s natural, so aLive hits the 3rd. Then as all those units are getting cleaned up, aLive hits herO’s natural to do damage while he’s out of position. These are the types of moves that make aLive so damn good. This play shows aLive’s multi-tasking prowess. I seriously think that the first attack at the 3rd base was a mistake, but based on the fact that he did that attack, this attack is a good idea. (for the record he ends up killing 8 Probes, 1 Oracle, costs a bit of lost mining time and unpowering 4 gates for slightly over the build time of a Pylon.)

OK, so now comes aLive’s biggest mistake in this game, and what probably actually ended up costing him the game overall. aLive has traded ARMY for ECONOMY (and some tech units, i.e ~3 Phoenixes and an Oracle). When you trade ARMY for ECONOMY, that means that you now have LESS ARMY and your opponent has LESS ECONOMY. We can reword this to say that your opponent has a SUPERIOR ARMY.

As a StarCraft player, the moments after you trade your ARMY for ECONOMY are the moments during which you are most vulnerable. It inevitably means that your opponent should be looking to use this new ARMY ADVANTAGE. This is when you should be most fearful of a counter attack. herO knows that aLive just spent a lot of units to deal damage to him, but that herO didn’t lose very many units at all. So here we have herO gathering his forces to see if he can punish aLive at all.

Here’s what aLive is up to:

aLive, again, has a much smaller army. 24 Army Supply down. Not only that, but he has absolutely NO pressure on the map. Maybe if he had a Medivac in herO’s main base or something, maybe then herO would be at home trying to clean stuff up. Instead we have aLive doing nothing but expanding after losing lots of units to injure herO’s economy. This is the one time you can be certain of an incoming attack.

To aLive’s credit, when he sees herO incoming, he wastes no time getting behind his Depot Wall and pulling SCVs to repair. Within seconds, though, aLive loses 15 workers and much of his bio force. aLive’s economy advantage turns into a disadvantage, and the army supplies equalize:

This is a good spot for an Adept/Phoenix player. Adept/Phoenix wants to fight at lower supplies against Terran. Bigger economy = more production of Adept/Phoenix = easier to continually trade vs Terran. Continual aggressive trades with Adept/Phoenix is exactly what herO is going for.

The rest of this game is just wild. aLive does a great job fighting against herO, especially as his army becomes more technical. As his Maruader and Mine counts grow, aLive takes better and better fights. The game becomes an extremely down and dirty one, full of multitasking, harassment and micro – with both players showing a great quality in skill.

aLive’s loss on Cactus Valley:

This game starts out very different from the others. herO does a 66% chance of working Proxy Stargate and nails it, being very close to aLive’s base. He sends the Mothership Core over and does a Pylon rush while flying in 2 Oracles. While he destroys the front Depots and Reactor, aLive’s Reaper actually gets 5-6 Probe Kills over in herO’s base.

herO takes a 3rd base while aLive defends his relentless harassment. With 2 Oracles and 3-4 Phoenixes, herO is able to pick off a a few units and SCVs, but then pulls back into a defensive arc around aLive’s base, watching for any leaving harassment:

This is a great move to protect his economy back home. aLive has already invested heavily into tech units, so only a technical harassment threatens the almost unit-less (still on one gateway) herO. As herO adds on his tech and aLive becomes a bit too strong to contain so forwardly, herO pulls back into another arc around his home bases.

Now this game, aLive has been very much on top of his defense. He hasn’t taken too much damage despite some really flashy harassment from herO. He’s also gone up to 5 Barracks without a 3rd CC. The game is looking, strategically, a bit more like GuMiho’s play on Newkirk Precinct.

As aLive’s complexity grows, he begins to push out a bit and starts his 3rd CC. He is posturing though, and doesn’t commit to an actual fight:

When herO scouts that aLive is making a 3rd CC and continues to turtle, giving away no units for free, herO decides to transition from Phoenix / Adept, knowing that the composition is doomed vs such play:

This is a very important moment in understanding the mind of herO while playing Phoenix/Adept. For a long time aLive was just sitting on 2 bases while building his army complexity. That is, for a long time, aLive was playing like GuMiho on Newkirk Precinct. herO was unable to do anything but continue making as strong an army as he could so that he could fight at the moment that aLive would come out. When herO sees that there is, in fact, a 3rd CC on the way, he sees that aLive is not going to be allin when he attacks. Thus, herO must transition. His main goal from here out is to not to fully engage until he has an army complex enough to fight against what aLive is making.

herO (I think accidentally) lets a shade finish at the wall-in, and aLive having a sufficiently large and complex army, in addition to seeing the Adepts close by and without their Shade cooldown active, takes the opportunity to move out. Notice the army supply once again for aLive:

Here is where it gets a bit messy. In this next screen shot, herO has just shaded the rest of his Adepts away, having some shaved off by aLive chasing. herO, knowing that he MUST buy time for this huge investment into Colossus, gathers all of his Phoenix together behind aLive’s army which is in the center of the map:

Here is the moment that aLive turned back around to head towards herO again:

If aLive had not turned around, had he ignored the Phoenixes going back towards his base, he would be entering the 3rd base at this moment, with the Colossi half way done, the Phoenixes across the map, and the Adepts in the natural.

Now when aLive gets there, the Colossi are out and the Phoenixes are back. Another Warp-in round is occurring. Most importantly, perhaps, is that herO has jumped up a whole level of complexity. aLive’s army right now is perfectly suited to fight against Adept/Phoenix, but has nothing to really deal with the Colossi:

They do a lot of trading in this battle, but aLive does not kill the base. So was chasing the Phoenixes back and regrouping with some important Liberators and Widow Mines a mistake? This is where the complexity of the game makes me uncomfortable in saying a simple “yes”.  The further we get into a tight game of StarCraft, the harder it becomes to be critical of some of the more complicated moves the players make. On top of that, we are getting very few games right now that progress so well to this stage.

I do want to say that I think that this game, more than any other, is a testament to herO’s skill and adaptability in the matchup and with the strategy in question.

In Closing

I do not think that this article has all the answers or clearly states exactly how you should or should not play against Phoenix / Adept as Terran, or even exactly how to play with Phoenix / Adept from the Protoss side. 

I do however think that this article shows many of the concepts and ideas that are being misunderstood about the Phoenix / Adept matchup against Terran at the moment. I think overall the Protoss side of understanding of this strategy is a bit more advanced than the Terran side currently, but that will swing over time, as it always does. It also seems to me, at least from the many, many games which I watch and study, that Terrans sometimes misunderstand their roll as the defender in early/mid game when playing against the strategy (as throughout the history of SC2, Terran has almost always been the aggressor, this is certainly a strange feeling change for at least some players).

Balance-wise, my gut tells me that this strategy will not prove to be imbalanced as play advances in the coming weeks. I’m fine being wrong with that, but to find out for sure we will need some more time for Terrans to continue to adapt to the strategy. 

As the old quote goes: “If you’re having trouble with the balance of Starcraft, you should first try to bring balance to your own mind.” - Me, in feardragon’s dream.